Friday, 18 July 2014

I've been grumpy about quite a few things lately, but simply haven't been able to find the time to get my thoughts written out. So, here is a truncated list of ranty subjects:

1. The Government of Canada is wrong to provide unconditional support to the Government of Israel. To my mind, Canada lost all credibility on matters related to Israel when they refused to hold Israel responsible for killing Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener in 2006. Currently, Canada has been vocal about Israel's 'right to defend itself' by bombing the crap out of Gaza. When I see advanced weapon systems raining down death and destruction on Gaza, I don't see Israel defending itself, I see Israel collectively punishing everyone in Gaza for the actions of Hamas.

2. The Government of Canada has handed the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration the power to strip Canadian citizenship. Those who are to be stripped of citizenship have no right to a hearing - the Minister may choose to have a hearing, but the legislation makes it clear that the hearing is at the Minister's discretion. This means that a politician gets to decide if a Canadian gets their citizenship removed, not a court, not a judge. Will the Minister this power be used for political advantage?

3. After the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada's prostitution laws, the Government of Canada presented a bill to make all forms of prostitution illegal. The Government's own study indicated that two thirds of respondents felt there should be some legal mechanism for sex workers to exchange their services for money, but the proposed legislation will ban all forms of prostitution. Because we all know that banning prostitution will make it go away.